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Philippines, 19 May 2025 |
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Oklahoma Thrashes Denver Nuggets in Game 7, 125-93, Completes NBA Final Four By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Mon, 19 May 2025  Oklahoma City Thunder walloped the Denver Nuggets 125-93 in the seventh and final game of their Western Conference semifinal series at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, completing this season's NBA Final Four. New York advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals the other day with a rout of the Jason Tatum-less, now deposed defending champion Boston Celtics, thus winning their semifinal series in five games, 4-1. Oklahoma will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, a 4-1 winner over the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors, in the Western Conference Finals, which will start next Wednesday, May 21, in Oklahoma. The Eastern Conference Finals will start on Thursday, May 22, with New York hosting the first two games against the Indiana Pacers. These are some of the most unexpected Conference Finals pairings in the league. Pundits had been expecting Eastern Conference top finisher Cleveland Cavaliers to tussle with #2 Boston Celtics, while West #1 Oklahoma was seen to tangle with either of the two Los Angeles teams, the #3 Lakers or #5 Clippers, or #4 Denver Nuggets, a former champion. Indiana first gave a portent of things to come in the East by eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, 4-1, and then shocking the top-seeded Cavaliers in the semifinals by the same count, 4-1. There's not much surprise there, however, as Indiana has been here before. In fact, the Pacers were the Celtics' Conference Finals foes last season. This year, Indiana beat Cleveland thrice in their four regular-season matchups, the only team to do that this season. New York moved to the Eastern Conference semifinals by defeating a tough #6 seed, the Detroit Pistons, in six games. #2 Boston had a lighter postseason assignment in #7 Chicago Bulls, whom it disposed of in five games. Cleveland had an even lighter first round, sweeping a Jimmy Butler-less #8 Miami Heat in four games. The momentum of playing and winning against tougher first-round opponents could have carried over in Indiana's and New York's respective drubbings of Cleveland and Boston in their semifinal series. Injury also played a key role, especially in the Knicks-Boston series, although the capability to maximize their respective benches also proved crucial. New York could have finally found its missing major piece in Karl Anthony Towns, a major trade find from Minnesota. It could be the quirk of seeding that placed Minnesota on a favorable route to this Conference Finals against Oklahoma. As #6, the Timberwolves went up against the surprise #3 Los Angeles Lakers, which was then still adjusting from the loss of ace big man Anthony Davis to Dallas. Minnesota took full advantage of a virtually center-less Lakers, unleashing their giant Rudy Gobert to negate their gain of Luka Doncic, who was even still hobbled by injuries. In the semifinals, the Timberwolves were again ranged against a depleted squad, the Golden State Warriors. Minnesota again made full use of Gobert and, for good measure, Julius Randle to neutralize Draymond Green and complement Anthony Edwards. Randle, who was traded for Karl Anthony Towns from New York to Minnesota with a few other players, showed his full worth during the postseason. Injury and fatigue played a very crucial role at this stage, as the Warriors lost their main man Stephen Curry, and Denver ultimately felt and fell to the rigors of battling the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma in back-to-back full seven-game series. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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